


i'm bad with words (but i'm good with you)

by winterjan



Category: Sports Night
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 23:42:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13669758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterjan/pseuds/winterjan
Summary: Dan realises that he's in love with Casey at exactly ten twenty in the evening on a pretty regular Thursday.





	i'm bad with words (but i'm good with you)

**Author's Note:**

> As of posting this, it's February 2018. I wrote this in one night after my first time watching the show, in 2014, when I was 16. I didn't love it then, but I like it more now, and it was the first fic I ever finished so publishing it feels right. 
> 
> The only alteration I've made is adding a title and fixing a grammatical error in the last section.

Dan realises that he's in love with Casey at exactly ten twenty in the evening on a pretty regular Thursday. He knows that it's ten twenty because he asks Casey for the time and Casey says it's ten twenty, and then he makes a stupid joke about camping and Dan realises he's in love. He's not really sure what to do with that information, so he makes a hasty excuse and practically runs out of the office.

 

-

 

He goes to Jeremy. He's pretty sure Jeremy should know how do deal with being in love.

"So I have a problem." He begins, ducking into the editing room and closing door firmly behind him.

Jeremy spins around in his chair. "Shoot."

"I'm in love." Dan says simply, slumping on the couch.

"Ah." Jeremy says, that glint in his eye. "I see."

Dan doesn't say anything.

"Congratulations?" Jeremy hazards. He looks put out when Dan doesn't respond. "How is this a problem?"

Dan finally looks up at him. Jeremy's flustered in the way only Jeremy can get flustered, because to Jeremy falling in love could not conceivably be a problem ever - mostly because he's dating the love of his life and is going to ask her to marry him on Sunday night, if the rumours are true.

Actually, talking to Jeremy probably wasn't a good idea after all.

"You know what, I'm gonna go talk to Natalie." Dan says. He claps Jeremy on the shoulder and leaves.

 

-

 

Natalie is hard to track down for two reasons: firstly because she is not in any of her usual haunts; secondly because she turns out to have accidentally locked herself in makeup.

He finds her only because he's looking for Kim to ask her if she's seen Natalie and walks past a door behind which someone is making a very loud noise. Someone is banging on this door and yelling to be let out. This someone sounds a lot like Natalie, so he opens the door and let's her out.

He thinks that even if it wasn't Natalie in there, he'd have let whoever it was out anyway. He's not limited to only helping his friends, but that's probably entirely beside the point.

"Natalie." He says, pulling her into an empty room, making sure not to let the door lock behind him. "I have a problem."

"Is it a work problem? Because right now I really don't have time for any other kind. I just spent a half hour shouting in a makeup room."

Dan shakes his head and sits on a table. "It's not a work problem."

"Then I don't care." She says brightly, and starts to leave.

Dan says, "I'm in love," and she stops. Turns slowly.

"You're in what?"

"I'm in love."

"With Rebecca?"

"Rebecca? No." Why would she think... Oh. Ever since they been bought by Quo Vadimus, Dan and Rebecca had gone out to dinner once or twice a week. There weren't dating - this was a point Dan had needed to clarify with a lot of people. They were just friends. Dan hadn't really felt the same way about her as he had before, and he guessed he knew why now.

"I mean, it's understandable that you'd fall in love with her." Natalie goes on. "She's smart and sweet and she really likes you. Plus you go out to dinner all the time, I'm actually surprised you haven't--"

"Natalie," Dan cuts her off. "It's not Rebecca."

"Who, then?"

Dan says, "Umm." Then he says, "Actually, I should go and do work. I'll see you..." He doesn't finish the sentence because he's out the door and away.

 

-

 

He goes to Dana, because for about two minutes he's under the impression that Dana is an expert on being in love with Casey. He walks into Dana's office and starts to tell Dana that he has a problem before he realises that getting advice about being in love with Casey from Dana is actually a really really bad idea. Mostly because Dana's idea of loving Casey is making him date other women, and Dan's pretty sure that he wouldn't be able to stand that, because he's not a crazy person like Dana is.

"What's going on, Dan?" She asks, gesturing for him to sit down.

Without thinking, he does, and he's suddenly aware that he's been caught in her web. "Umm." He says dumbly. "I'm in love with Casey."

"Oh." She says, a look of unfathomable understanding suddenly lighting on her face. "Oh."

"Wait, stop. Don't go having a revelation. On your own. What's going on?"

"You're in love with Casey." Dana says in that voice she gets that's almost hysterical.

"What do I do?"

"Well," Dana says, flipping through some o the paper in from of her. "You're going to Moscow on Wednesday."

"How is that related at all to what we were just saying?"

"Oh, it isn't. I just wanted to tell you while I have you here."

"Yes, but what am I going to do with this problem I'm having, Dana? This vey important and potentially life-changing problem that I have!"

"What problem?" Dan hears Casey say, and he turns around in his chair so fast he almost falls out of it. Casey is standing in his doorway, holding a tape.

"Oh, Dan's completely--"

"Going to Moscow in Wednesday." Dan cuts her off, treading on her foot lightly.

Casey frowns, but bites back a smile. "That is life-changing indeed." He waves the tape. "Dana, Jeremy said to give you this. He also said that Dan was being weird and that I should talk to him." He turns to Dan. "Are you being weird?"

"Nope." Dan shakes his head.

"Good." Casey grins and something in Dan's chest feels tighter, and he can't help but smile back. Casey comes over and hands Dana the tape. His hand rests on Dan's shoulder as he leans over, and Dan knows he probably imagines it lingering there a fraction of a second longer than necessary. "See you later."

When he's gone, Dana looks at Dan for a second, and laughs. "You really do love him, don't you?"

Dan slumps back in his chair. "Is it that obvious?"

"Yes." She says definitively.

Dan hums. "Why am I going to Russia?"

"Interview with a long-jumper."

"Why isn't he coming here?"

"He's afraid of flying."

"Why don't we just do a phone interview?"

"Because I say so, Danny."

"And you really think I should tell Casey?"

"Absolutely. Tonight."

"Why?"

"Because the longer you leave it, the worse you'll feel."

Dan can't remember many times in his life that he's taken Dana's advice, but he thinks he might take this piece of it.

 

-

 

They're in the middle of the show and there's a minute long cut to Julie Harper in New Orleans, and Dan turns to Casey.

"So here's the thing," He starts, fairly unsure of where he's going to end up. "I've got to talk to you."

"Well, you're in luck, because it just so happens I'm right here, right now."

"No, I mean, I need to talk to you alone."

"Why?" Casey sifts through his script.

Dan tries to be nonchalant. "It's not exactly something I want everyone on the show to know about."

"I know about it." Dana says in their ears, and Dan glares at the camera.

"How come you told Dana before me?"

"Honestly, Dana was not my first choice of who to tell. I went to Jeremy first, but realised that he was inept to help me. Similarly, Natalie was no use. I went to Dana because I thought she would be able to help and then realised that asking her for help was a very bad idea but by the time I realised that I'd already told her about it and she actually turned out to be pretty helpful." Dan explains. He should probably start to plan what he's going to say in conversations like this before he starts them.

"So you told three people before you were going to tell me." Dan probably imagines the almost hurt look on Casey's face.

"Yes. No. Jeremy and Natalie only know half of it. Actually, by now Dana's probably told Natalie the whole thing and Natalie's probably told Jeremy, so, you're going to be the fifth person to know about this."

"Who's the fourth?" Casey straightened his script fussily, barely making eye contact with Dan.

"Me. I mean, I was technically the first, but. I am the fourth and unmentioned person."

"Ah." Did Casey just sound a bit brighter?

"So you understand why I need to talk to you later, before you inevitably hear about it from someone else."

"Yeah, sure, Danny."

 

-

 

"Okay, here's the thing." The show's over and Casey's trying to find something on the desk in their office. Dan's trying to concentrate and not wimp out as he almost inevitably will at this point.

"Are you dying?" Casey asks casually, clearly not that concerned.

"What? No."

"Good."

"Why would I be dying?"

"I don't know. You're acting like secretly dying people in movies do."

"I'm not dying."

"I'm glad, Danny."

"I'm the opposite of dying."

"Living?"

"Exactly. Can't mistake that for dying."

"So what is it?"

"What's what?"

"The think you want to tell me about."

"Oh, yeah, that."

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What is it?"

Danny takes a deep breath and does his best not to run out of the room away from this situation. "Here's the thing, Case. I don't really know how to say it."

Casey finally leaves his desk search alone and looks at Dan. "Then say it in the simplest way possible."

Dan nods. "Right. Umm. Okay. Casey?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sort of completely in love with you."

The words hang in the air for about three seconds while Dan tries to root himself to the ground and not run away. Casey stares at him and it feels like forever, and then he says something under his breath that sounds a lot like "oh, thank God" and pulls Dan over the desk and kisses him right on the mouth.

Dan's half on the desk and half not and it's quite possibly the worst kissing position ever, but before he really knows what he's doing, his arms loop around Casey and he kisses him back. The tight thing in his chest gets tighter and looser at the same time, and he pulls Casey closer even though that isn't really possible at this point, and for the first time in a really long time, he feels completely content.  
Casey pulls back a little way and smiles against him. "Our office isn't the best place to do this."

Glass walls and no locks. Casey was probably right but Dan really didn't want to stop.

"Come back to mine." Casey said, and actually. That was a pretty appealing reason to stop for a while.

A while, but not very long.


End file.
